[b]Name:[/b] Ridge Hounds/ Ravine Hounds [b]Class:[/b] Medium 4 foot high [b]Species type:[/b] Ravine/Surface Image/Appearance Description: [center][IMG]http://milesteves.com/images/gallery/illustration/Hell-Hound-02-72.jpg [/IMG][/center] Main body is a dune hue yellow and hairless, wrinkled skin and no eyes. Merely oversized nostrils and large sensory glands upon its shoulders that show off vibrate colors in contrast to its bland appearance. Males have two large red lines reaching over the main body, ending at the tail base. Ones that have found themselves in the Ravine have been altered only in color, instead of the light dune yellow their skin is pale white and have a slight illumination from the large portion of its diet, glowing magma shrimp. Males have a black, single stripe from neck to tail base. [b]Brief on Behavior: [/b] There 2 types of behavior from Ridge Hounds to be noted: Pack and loner. [u]Pack[/u] The large number of Ridges, limited area, and consistent hunger has made these creatures aggressive and ill tempered. Females usually snapping at the tails of others merely brushing by and start in-fight that usually end in blood and death. Reasons are that scent of blood, the pack turns on the injured in a few, quick seconds until there’s little left. The same practices are common in hunting. Instead of relying on tactics and hunting patterns like wolves, Ridge Hounds assaults are uncoordinated and reckless trying to take the prey down with numbers. These number are easily replenished over time when the next spanning happens. Competition for food is always present since they seem to have a high metabolism causing their thin, wiry appearance. [u]Loner[/u] Unlike pack Ridges, loners aren’t driven by competition for food. They are forced to use different tactics then masses to overwhelm the prey, allowing most to reach older ages. Tactics vary from chasing prey off sheer drop offs, slicing venerable vessels, waiting until the creature collapses from weakness or eating the carcass of long dead animals. Often they avoid head to head confrontation, their intelligence built up over the choice of living alone. In tune with the pack habits, a female loner isn’t picky about cannibalism and will gorge on an unattended clutch just to make space for a few of her own. These are the ones every traveler should be wary about since due to high quality of their diet, loner’s built are far stronger and can take a bit more damage than one from the pack. [b]Abilities:[/b] [u]Heighten Senses:[/u] Blind and without eyesight, they can only hear thanks to the shoulder ‘ears’ fanning out to absorb vibrations in the air and through its thick callous pad on its claws like oversize ear drums. Able to shut them off and on when needed. It also aids in gathering and storing heat in the body, allowing Ridge Hounds to spend or expel it whenever needed. [u]Strong Claws and Jaws:[/u] Strength enough to grind rock into sand within its large mantis like claws and its elongated jaws, they are made to feed off the calcium and meat of their prey storing lean layer of fat and water between the muscle and in the wrinkled skin. [u]Sulkus Gland:[/u] Unable to detect poison though taste, the Ridge Hounds are able to detect sour odors of most poisons even if they are overwhelmed by other messes of smells. A specialized gland in the brain is created for the pure sorting of smells alone and works rather quickly, independent of the other brain functions. Excellent poison detectors, the organ can be harvested and cut into pieces. Each piece when touching a poisonous material will illuminate a vivid purple and rotten smell used to get the creature’s attention. [u]Poison Tolerance (only Ravine Ridge Hounds):[/u] Due to their diet, these creatures’ sense of taste has been lost over time and years of evolution leaving even the worse tasting creatures to become a victim to a Ridge Hound’s huge hunger. Resistant to the poisonous creatures through consumption only, it’s not odd to see very little of any Ravine animal remains afterwards if any and areas littered with thousands of bones, corpses, or herds literally picked clean in little less than a week’s time from a passing pack. [b]Location:[/b] Isolated oasis where jungle and sand clash in the region of Yarsomere. Throughout the Ravine, the deeper one goes the less likely they are to encounter one/many as the environment becomes too hot for most Ravine Ridges to handle or adapt to. They enjoy large pre made tunnels which are dug and large enough to carry them, often killing and devouring any creature to cross their path. [b]Extra:[/b] Packs of Ridge hounds, usually more common in the Ravine, consist of 80-100/ or more members at any giving time. Their large number balances out the fact the individual pack members can’t take extreme damage without dying soon after, the skull light weight and made from fragile bone that a well-placed kick could end up a killing blow. This is only consistent with pack Ridge Hound however. Some theorize that the reason is due to malnutrition, the gluttonous behavior and vast number of infighting has taken its tolls which changes upon drifting into loner hunters, lacking such problems. Another is the Pack’s diet, the plants eaten by herbivores and passing onto the carnivores that eat them weaken the bone frames. Ridges in the Ravines are born female but with both sets of reproductive anatomy (males are sucked into their bodies when not in use), unlike their topside brethren where the genders are separated at birth. Females that don’t lay eggs will change their gender. Becoming males to fertilize the eggs and unable to change their gender again, staying males and losing the ability to produce eggs for the rest of their lives. Several males can fertilize, in a way like salmon does, the same leathery egg clutch which are able to found anywhere from high ledges to stuck to wall thanks to the sticky substance secreted from the shell upon lying. Both species have the same breeding habits, just the amount differs. Female Ridge Hounds layup to 20 eggs every half a year, keeping their numbers easily manageable and allowing the body to recoup needed minerals over time for egg health. Ravine Ridges however breed 50-100 eggs per female every month, about only 2/3 of these eggs will live long after being fertilizing by scatters of males. Less would make it into adulthood and none into ripe old age, no knowledge of any Ridge dying of old age. The Ridge Hound parts are used for many potions and uses, the Sulkus for example can be used as poison detectors. Their meat is sinewy but extremely juicy with flavor from the topside breed. On the other hand, those found in the Ravine’s has a delicate vein at the skull back just under the lip that requires a skilled hand and steady attention to remove, a key ingredient in most Ravine anti-venoms. A wrong slice would make the vein explode and the clear fluid turned black becoming useless.